Page:Early Spring in Massachusetts (1881).djvu/263

Rh I saw flying to the alders by the river what I have no doubt was the tree-sparrow, with a ferruginous crown or head, and wings also partly ferruginous; light beneath. It was in company with a few of the Fringilla hiemalis. Sang sweetly, much like some notes of the canary. One pursued another. It was not large enough for the fox-colored sparrow. Perhaps I have seen it before within the month.

As near as I can make out, the hawks or falcons I am likely to see here are the American Sparrow Hawk, the Fish Hawk, the Goshawk, the Short-winged Buzzard (if this is the same with Browne's stuffed sharp-shinned or slate-colored hawk, not slate in his specimen). Is not this the common small hawk that soars? The Red-tailed Hawk. (Have we the red-shouldered hawk, about the same size and aspect with the last?) The Hen Harrier. I suppose it is the adult of this, with the slate color, over meadows.

March 28, 1855. To Cliffs, along river I run about these cold, blustering days, on the whole, perhaps, the worst to bear in the year (partly because they disappoint expectation), looking almost in vain for some animal or vegetable life stirring. The warmest springs hardly allow me the glimpse of a frog's heel as he settles himself in the mud, and I think I am lucky if I see one winter-defying hawk or a